


Embrace

by Apparentlynotreallyfinnish



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Fluff, Hugging, M/M, episode inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22006147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apparentlynotreallyfinnish/pseuds/Apparentlynotreallyfinnish
Summary: After filmingthe final ltat episodeRhett asks Link to sit on his lap again.
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 1
Kudos: 76





	Embrace

They’d finished filming the last episode of ltat a little while ago. When Link got back to their office, Rhett was sitting on the couch, looking up at him with an expression Link couldn’t read.

“Could you close the door?” Rhett asked, shifting in his seat and giving Link a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Link’s eyebrows threaded together, but he turned to close the door. Usually, they only closed it when they had a meeting. Link was more than sure that there were no meetings scheduled for this afternoon.

“Can you come here?” Rhett’s voice had a strange lilt to it—almost pleading.

Link squinted at him. “What’s this?” he asked, suspicious. His gaze swept the room, searching for cameras.

“Just… I’m asking you. Would you come sit with me?”

Link moved towards the couch carefully—waiting for _something_ to spring at him. Nothing happened. Rhett watched him come closer. He was bouncing his leg against the floor and rubbing his hands against his thighs. Link stopped next to the couch.

“Okay. I’m here. What is it?” Link asked, without sitting down.

Rhett patted his thigh. “Sit.”

Link stomach lurched, and he let out an awkward chuckle. “Umm, what?”

Rhett repeated the gesture. “Yeah. Like you did, on ltat.”

Link’s lips parted, but no words came out. He was beyond confused. They didn’t do stuff like this. He didn’t sit in Rhett’s lap—unless it was a bit. Link took a step back. Rhett’s face fell, and his hand shot out and grabbed Link’s wrist.

“Please,” Rhett said and tugged on Link’s arm. He sounded small—afraid and anxious… and excited?

Something had to be going on. Link kept glancing at the door, waiting for the crew to burst in hollering and hooting, laughing about a prank or something. But there was only silence and his heart hammering in his chest.

Link was known for speaking before thinking, but now he moved before making a decision to do so. Suddenly, he was perched on Rhett’s leg, his hands awkwardly pressed between his own thighs. He wasn’t shaking—why would he be?—it was just Rhett’s leg bouncing under him.

“Arms,” Rhett whispered and gently guided Link’s arms around his shoulders. After Rhett had him settled, his arms wrapped around Link’s waist and squeezed a little.

“Okay?” Rhett murmured. He was looking at Link from under his eyelashes. Link stared back, unable to speak, wondering how he’d never realized how pretty Rhett’s eyes were. 

“Link, is this okay?” Rhett repeated. Link shifted his gaze away, blushing, and nodded.

But it wasn’t, not really. It felt odd. Rhett’s thigh was lean and bony and hit his butt kind of uncomfortably. Their arms were around each other, but there was a good few inches between their bodies. It felt forced.

“What are we doing, Rhett? Is this—?”

“Not a bit. Not a prank. I—“ Rhett paused and took a deep, shuddering breath. Link turned to look at him again—it was almost involuntary, a compulsion to read the truth from Rhett’s features. Rhett looked back at him with soft, glossy eyes and a lopsided smile.

“Didn’t it feel good? Just now, while we were filming? When we hugged?”

Link swallowed around a lump in his throat he hadn’t even realized was there. He knew if he spoke, his voice would crack. Would he be embarrassed? Should he be?

It _had_ felt good. Perfect. Easy.

What they were doing now… was none of those things.

Rhett was waiting for his answer. Link watched his bottom lip disappear between his teeth and come back plumpened and glistening. Why did that make Link’s stomach somersault? Why did it make him think about the smell of summer rain and suntan lotion? 

“It was nice, yeah…” Link finally croaked and shifted on Rhett’s leg.

“…but?” Rhett asked, and Link saw his smile falter. There’d been a shine in his eyes that was now gone and the emptiness it left behind made Link’s chest ache in an unfamiliar way.

“This is weird. Isn’t this weird?” Link asked and laughed. His laughter came out too loud and so obviously feigned that even Link cringed at the sound.

Rhett didn’t join the false laughter. He watched Link with a thoughtful expression. Watched Link squirm under the sincerity of Rhett’s gaze and look away from him.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Rhett said quietly and pulled Link closer to himself. “It wasn’t before. It was—“

Rhett closed his eyes. Link knew that he was searching for the right word.

“Spontaneous?” Link offered. Rhett nodded slowly, meaning that Link was right, but that wasn’t the word he was looking for. Link knew that, too. He knew his best friend. He knew what each little tic of his meant. He knew what he was thinking—many times he knew before Rhett could even put his thoughts into words. Link was always on top of things.

But not _literally_ —not on top of Rhett. This was new. Rhett’s arms around him like this, holding onto him tightly, new and a little bit scary. Link felt adrift; he felt out of control in a way that was making his heart beat wildly, and his hands tremble.

“It felt right,” Rhett finally said, pulling Link from his scattered thoughts. Link’s stomach twisted, and his chest felt like it was caving in and filling up all at once.

“It did,” he whispered—confessed. 

And that was all it took. Link saying it out loud. What happened next was like an avalanche. It started small—Link edging closer to Rhett’s hips on his leg—then suddenly, everything was happening all at once.

Their arms moved; their bodies shifted; they were like two planets knocked out of orbit and settling onto a new trajectory circling each other. Link’s head fell on Rhett’s shoulder, and their bodies pressed flush together. And as quickly as they’d started, they settled.

Rhett was warm and solid and there. Right there against Link—breathing the same air, thinking the same thoughts, experiencing the same overwhelming feeling of ‘ _finally_ ’. 

Link closed his eyes and melted into him. He felt Rhett’s contented sigh and smiled against his skin, nuzzling deep into the dip between Rhett’s neck and shoulder.

And then it was good. Perfect. Easy. _Right._

Two hearts beating as one.

There was no need to think about what came next, what might transpire from this, but Link couldn’t help the thought drifting into his mind.

_Not yet. But maybe soon._


End file.
